Thread by @eketiette

My name is Kokonne and I used to see things. My grandmother, Nnenne said it was a gift and her husband Etebom agreed. But my parents were not so inclined.

"She has the gift," Etebom said.

"Ete, mbok kutañ uto iko ado," my mother would say. "Don't encourage her fantasies."

But they weren't fantasies - the gift was real.

It was there when I told Iya Philomena in our compound that one day, her husband would lock the door of their bedroom and dance the horizontal waist dance with the landlord's daughter.

She said she'd heard tales of my predictions and knew I was a witch.

But she said very little else afterwards, when I told her that I knew she was already doing the horizontal dance with the landlord and that her son, Ugo, had come after their third dance session.

That Saturday, it was the gift that opened my eyes as I walked into the living room and saw Papa adding something to Mama's cup of Earl Grey.

"Papa, what are you adding to Mama's tea?" I asked.

"Not...nothing," he stammered. "Just a little bit of love."

But I knew what it was.

A concoction, the one he'd gotten from the man in a red loincloth, years before my birth. Mama had been a youth corper then, one who didn't want to be with an Ijebu man. But the concoction made her love Papa. It'd make Mama love him forever and ever.

Papa, started at me, his eyes pleasing. "Don't tell anyone, you hear? I'll buy you pizza."

"Yes, Papa," I replied.

I agreed because I knew that I wouldn't need to tell. The gift had shown me that very soon, the man in the red loincloth would die and his powers along with him.

Soon, Mama would stop loving Papa forever and ever.

Yes, I used to see things. Used to.

I lost my gift the day Mama stopped loving Papa. The gift did not show me that day in full. I did not see that when Mama would stop loving Papa, she would stop remembering who I was.

To this day, I remember the blank expression on her face that afternoon, when I walked into the living room after she'd awakened from her nap.

"Mama, your food is ready," I'd said. "Come and eat."

She'd stared at me for a long, unsettling moment and then said, "Who are you?"

I felt a cold shiver snake it's way up my spine. It was her eyes - there was no recognition in them.

"Can't you talk? Who are you? Where am I?"

She glanced about the room. My heart ached as I watched her; she looked so lost and afraid. I shut my eyes and tried to see.

But the gift was gone, gone with the man in red loincloth.

"I said who are..."

Her words were cut short as Papa walked into the room. Her eyes flared with shock. His too. I don't know how but in that moment, he knew.

The End.

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